FLOEC'26 Bylaws

League Format

FLOEC is a dynasty league with a salary cap and player contracts. Owners retain each player until such a time as the player is released or his contract expires. Player values are determined by preseason and regular season auctions.

Auction Draft

FLOEC uses an auction for player distribution. Each team is awarded a mythical $115 with bids accepted in whole-dollar increments only. Teams will take turns bringing a player up to bid with a bid of at least $1. The highest bidder receives the player. At no time during the auction may a team have fewer dollars than available roster spots. Teams may not bid on players from positions that they cannot fill.

After the auction, the team retains any remaining unspent salary cap money and can be applied toward future use. Additional money is not granted to teams later in the season. It is recommended that each team keep some money to use for free agent bidding.

Rookie players are added to the auction draft each year — there is no separate rookie draft. Within 5 days of the conclusion of an auction, owners must declare the length of the contract they are awarding to each player.

Player Contracts

Player contracts run 1–5 years, at the owner's choosing. As of 2017 the contract no longer inflates $1 per year — the player remains at the price he was initially signed for.

Releasing a player before his contract expires leaves a penalty of 25% of the contract value in each future year (fractional values allowed). The owner then gains the remaining contract amount back under his salary cap.

All contracts must have a minimum value of $1 per year (Executive Order, 10/18/16).

Salary Cap

Each team has a hard salary cap of $115. At no time may a team's current-year roster exceed the cap. Salary cap dollars and blind-bidding dollars are one and the same pool.

Free Agent Bidding

Add/drops are handled by an automated blind bidding auction process (FAAB) running Tuesday through Saturday. Zero bids are not allowed. Players are awarded to the team with the highest total contract bid; ties go to the longer-term contract, then to the team lower in the power rankings.

All players acquired this way automatically have a contract of one year and $1 — notify the commissioner at pickup time for a longer contract. If you pick up a player who has previously been on your roster, you pick up his original contract amount and length (no drop-and-resign loophole).

Each owner is responsible for keeping their roster legal and under the cap; violating bids are denied. Teams eliminated from the playoffs may still make roster moves.

Holdouts

At the end of the regular season (through week 17), players are ranked in the order they finished at their position. A player is considered a holdout if:

• Quarterbacks — jumped 10 spots and finished in the top 5 of all quarterbacks
• Tight Ends — jumped 10 spots and finished in the top 5 of all tight ends
• Running Backs — jumped 15 spots and finished in the top 10 of all running backs
• Wide Receivers — jumped 15 spots and finished in the top 10 of all wide receivers
• Defenses — no holdouts at this position

Holdout Terms

The jump is measured from the player's contract rank: e.g. a $3 contract that ranked as the 24th-highest-paid WR contract, finishing WR3, is a 24 − 3 = 21 spot jump.

Holdout players demand contract adjustments and can be signed to a 1–5 year contract at 70% of the previous year's salary of the player at their finish rank, rounded to the nearest $0.50. Example: finishing WR3 when the third-highest-paid WR earned $22 → 70% = $15.40 → $15.50 base salary.

If a player is deemed a holdout, the team must decide by the annual deadline whether he is signed to a new contract (including its length) or released. This is officially the "Scot's a nit-picking whiny bitch" rule.

Rookie Protected Contracts

Players drafted as rookies are protected from holding out for the entire length of their rookie deal.

Franchise Tag

During the offseason, a team may retain one of its free-agent players using an available franchise tag. The player automatically signs a three-year agreement, paying either the average of the top three players at his position or his previous year's salary plus 20%, whichever is higher.

Restricted Free Agents

Upon dropping a player, owners can designate ONE soon-to-be free agent as a Restricted Free Agent. The player is released to the free agent pool, but if he is bid upon at the free agent auction, the RFA rights-holder can match the highest bid and retain his services (declared immediately at the conclusion of bidding, without violating cap or roster rules). If the player is not bid upon, the rights are relinquished.

Owners may trade in the offseason to acquire players with RFA status — the only exception to holding more than one RFA.

Injured Reserve

Owners may place one player on injured reserve, but only if the player is on his NFL team's injured reserve. The player moves off the active roster (freeing a spot), but his contract still counts against the cap.

Retirements

If a player retires from the NFL, his owner can either (a) immediately void his contract, eliminating all cap burden and relinquishing future rights, or (b) immediately pay 10% (rounded up) of the player's current-year contract to retain rights to the player for the duration of the contract. If the player returns, he plays under his previous contract.

Trades

Teams can make any trade that does not violate roster restrictions or the current-year salary cap; trades that violate future-year caps are valid, with rosters reconciled in the offseason. Trades are allowed from April 1 to kickoff of week 10, and again from the end of the regular season until one week before the following year's draft.

Owners can trade players for cash, and can retain a portion or all of a traded player's salary.

The trading deadline is the kickoff of week 12. There is no free-agent transaction deadline.

Season Changes & New Owners

When the season advances each year, teams must comply with the new year's salary cap — in many cases requiring players to be released to the free agent market.

Incoming owners either keep the roster as-is (no changes until the draft) or drop the entire roster for a 15% hit against the current year's cap (7.5% in year two), deciding within 72 hours. Owners who start anew cannot re-acquire their dropped players for less than their original contracts.

Playoffs

Playoff weeks are 14–17. The four division winners advance plus two wildcards (next-best records regardless of conference or division); the best two records get a week 14 bye. Weeks 14 and 15 are single elimination; weeks 16–17 are decided by total aggregate score.

Playoff seeding tiebreakers, in order: overall record, head-to-head record (only if every tied team played each other equally), all-play record, total points, coin flip.

Dues & Voting

The league is $100, expected to be paid at the draft.

All league-wide votes must win by majority — a 5-5 tie fails; votes only pass 6-4 or better.